13.1

Today I decided I need to have some external fitness goals. Simply burning more calories at the Gym or lifting more weight is not keeping me very motivated. Something I have found that consistently motivates me is competition. The past couple of months I have kept myself motivated by placing myself in competition with the other members of the Gym by striving to be in the Top 10 list each month. As nice as this is, it really is me in competition with people who may not care whatsoever about the Top 10 list. This is really fictitious competition. So the motivation has begun to wear off. I need non-fictitious competition. I need something bigger, something more real to focus on.

It was then that I learned about a 13.1 mile run that happens each year in Naples, FL. A Half-Marathon. I am going to enter the January 2009 Half-Marathon and begin training now. I will also likely enter into a few other races during the year to experience what a race is like before going to the Half-Marathon. I still need to work those details out. But this is the level of competition that I think I need to keep pushing towards.

I have a few strategies to get me started. I am first going to begin the Couch-to-5k Plan. I am not in ‘couch potato’ shape at the moment. But I want to start slow and build up. Real running is significantly more difficult than treadmill running for me, and I have had bad shin splits in the past so I want to build up slowly. Once I am successful with the Couch-to-5k plan I will begin actual Half-Marathon training.

Another factor that will help is that my wife used to run track, and she is excited about this idea. She is a runner and I have always had some serious disdain to running, so we really have never run. But all that is about to change. She may even enter into the Half-Marathon with me.

If anyone knows me, the idea that I would ever enter into a foot race would seem ridiculous. And since I like to behave ridiculously, maybe this is actually in character for me after all. 🙂